A CHEF G. FAMILY THANKGIVING (And the Aftermath)

Hi folks, Chef G. here.  As always, it's great to see all you wonderful, sophisticated, and loyal fans who tuned in for another episode of The Chef G. Cooking Channel.  Sure, I'm supercool and all, but dedicated viewers like you deserve some of the credit for my incredible success too.  Without you, I'd be nothing but a brilliant, yet unknown chef preparing delicious food for myself in my own kitchen.  BORING!  Cooking is so much more fun when I have a legion of fans I can brag to.

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You don't have to remind me that I promised a second consecutive Thai dish in the last episode.  I already know that, because I'm the guy who wrote it.  Yes, today was going to be the day I featured Pad Kee Mao, but the aftermath of last week's Chef G. Family Thanksgiving Dinner changed things a little bit.  Please allow me to tell you about it.

The Chef G. family was most thankful.  We all agreed that this was the largest family gathering in at least 20 years.  Our family is small, so, for us, twelve people is pretty large.  It included my 89-year-old dad, his three sons, two daughters-in law, and most of his grandchildren & their partners.  With much reminiscing, story telling, and joking, a good time was had by all.  We didn't even get into a contentious political fight because we're all on the same page in that regard.

 

The main table.  The family patriarch is at the end.  Behind him is a smaller table where the family members who didn't race to the main table had to sit.

The food was delicious too, even though the amazing Chef G. didn't cook it.  Chef G's brother, Chef D., made all of the traditional Thanksgiving dishes--mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, stuffing, yams, rutabagas, salad, corn, etc.  He even roasted the turkey--and he's a vegetarian.  What a trooper.

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The Chef G. Family Thanksgiving Dinner was at my dad's house in the great state of Iowa.  A few days after returning home to Minnesota, I felt a cold coming on.  The next day, my brother, Chef D., texted that he had tested positive for Covid.  Being that I was not feeling up to par, I tested myself.  I, too, was positive.

So far, everybody else at the gathering has tested negative.  Based on those results, I can only conclude that this strain of the Coronavirus only attacks high level chefs.  What's up with that?

Anyway, I didn't think it would be appropriate to go shopping for Pad Kee Mao ingredients this morning.  Why expose a bunch of innocent grocery store customers to the Chefaronavirus?  Instead, I planned to grill some chicken thighs I had in the refrigerator.  Undeterred by a little snow on the ground, high winds, and a 17-degree (F) temperature, I followed up on that plan.

No doubt about it, they'll be delicious.

Perhaps the most interesting part of my second day of Covid was when I opened up my computer machine to look at my news feed.  One of the items included a list of the best cooking shows.  I sure didn't need to scroll through the click-bait to know who the #1 chef in the world is.  

It's ME . . . obviously.

Get ready for Pad Kee Mao next week.  Thank you for reading.